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The wife of Bath’s tale supports the theme of dominance of men by women. Which is what she strove for with all her husbands. Unlike the other storytellers, she doesn’t represent a social class, however she represents all women in the middle ages, and holds power over men or husbands. “The Pardoner’s Tale” represents the class of clergymen. The Pardoner is a man who works for the church and relieves people from their sins. He carries scrolls that supposedly are written by the Pope, and sells them to people who have committed immoral acts. He knows that he himself is committing immoral acts, but has no intent to change himself at all. His story shows corruption of the church and how clergymen were situated back in the middle ages. And in the
Leicester, Jr., H. Marshall. "Public and Private Feminism in the Wife of Bath's Tale." Women's Studies 11.1-2 (1985): 157-78.
Thus one might conclude that perhaps all the previous husbands were a lie and that through her theatre, she was attempting to fantasize about reclaiming control over her life rather than giving in to her husband. This possible character of the wife of bath is more tragic yet somehow has roots of hypocrisy. This is the root of satire, but like all comedy this had an inkling of truth in it. The Wife of Bath could be making fun of feminist of their time, but he does seem to acknowledge that they did have a cause but it was mostly futile. For the reason that even though they were fighting for the progression of women in their age. Some women did not wish to be removed from their place in society, because it was comfortable and easy. So really what was the point of the movement if even the women that were supposed to be advanced? This hypocrisy is shown through the wife of Bath pompous conquering of her previous husbands, yet only happy with her fifth husband whom abused her as a result of her
The Pardoner does the opposite of that. When the Pardoner sells a pardon instead of giving the money to the church or donating it he keeps it for himself. This is totally against integrity and shows again why the Pardoner is not honest. Cheating is another word that is important with the word honesty because it is the opposite of it. To cheat someone is to wrong them with or without their knowledge. The Pardoner does this buy selling his so called “relics” when really they are just fake and he is just trying to get more money. As Chaucer (1476) himself said in the Pardoner’s prologue “he made the parson and the people his apes” (line 705). The Pardoner is a cheater and a scammer these are qualities that an honest person has, an example of an honest person is Abraham Lincoln, he was also sometimes referred to as “Honest Abe” or supposed honest
The Wife of Bath believes very strongly that the woman should be in charge in a marriage, and that any violence against women should lead to shame from the man. Not only does she discuss such things in her prologue but her tale centers around the theme the violence against women is a terrible thing and any man that believes it not so deserves to be punished. The Wife of Bath does not condone any violent acts against women, though her tale shows she believes that a man who is violent can learn to become a good husband is he acknowledges that the women should have the power in the relationship.
The Wife of Bath, therefore, can be seen as a woman who has taken her understanding of the teachings of the Bible, and held fast to certain notions that can help her succeed as a common person in a period where social position and wealth are usually a factor of birth, not personal effort. The notions of the right and freedom to make decisions, especially those regarding marriage and personal actions, allow her to travel, to have some nice possessions, and to become a strong, confident woman against the odds. Although she isn’t perfect, she has the desire, the underlying humility, and the understanding of how to be a better person—if only she had made that decision.
The ’Wife of Bath’s Prologue’ raises the question of marriage. The marriage and the role of wife have momentous status in the Middle Ages. It embodies many patriarchal values which creates a full medieval culture and society. Lee Patterson argues that some historicist readings of Wife of Bath see medieval marriage as a thoroughly inhumane system, ”organized by males to serve economic and political ends, with the woman treated as a useful, child bearing appendage to the land or goods being exchanged.” (Beidle 138) This reading means that the marriage is no more as important, sacred and precious as people think that was to be at that time. It destroys the society, decreases the intimacy and highlights the importance of property and wealth in the Middle Ages. The Wife speaks about her memories of the past. She expresses nostalgia with her words. She tells that she has five husbands, three of them were old but rich and the other two are younger. On the one hand, the three older husbands provided her strong financial...
“The Wife if Bath’s Tale” is ultimately about power, specifically women wanting to have power over men, especially their husbands. Being the
One of the most interesting and widely interpreted characters in The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer is the Wife of Bath. She has had five different husbands and openly admits to marrying the majority of them for their money. The wife appears to be more outspoken and independent than most women of medieval times, and has therefore been thought to symbolize the cause of feminism; some even refer to her as the first actual feminist character in literature. Readers and scholars probably argue in favor of this idea because in The Canterbury Tales, she uniquely gives her own insight and opinions on how relations between men and women should be carried out. Also, the meaning of her tale is that virtually all women want to be granted control over themselves and their relationship with their husbands, which seems to convince people that the Wife of Bath should be viewed as some sort of revolutionary feminist of her time. This idea, however, is incorrect. The truth is that the Wife of Bath, or Alisoun, merely confirms negative stereotypes of women; she is deceitful, promiscuous, and clandestine. She does very little that is actually empowering or revolutionary for women, but instead tries to empower herself by using her body to gain control over her various husbands. The Wife of Bath is insecure, cynical towards men in general, and ultimately, a confirmation of misogynistic stereotypes of women.
There are corrupt people all around, they hide in the world as best friends, boyfriends/girlfriends, relatives, acquaintances, preachers, and teachers. These people hide behind different personalities so they can be anyone they want to be. Corrupted souls can have many different motives, some want money, some want fame, some want sex. People who want money can deceive you into giving it to them, people who want fame do whatever they can to get noticed, and people who want sex pretend to love someone just to please themselves. They manipulate innocent people with good souls just for their own gain. In “The Pardoner’s Tale,” a story from The Canterbury Tales written by Geoffrey Chaucer, is about a corrupt clergyman who tells a tale for his own
For the most part, the wife of Bath and the society viewed these ideas very similarly. The Wife of Bath just had stronger opinions about things that the society didn’t pay much attention to, like how the noblemen only saw the bad in the woman during sexual relations. The Wife of Bath Tale explained her opinions well and it shows that women during that time needed some power in marriages.
The Wife of Bath is a complex character-she is different from the way she represents herself. Maybe not even what she herself thinks she is. On the surface, it seems as though she is a feminist, defending the rights and power of women over men. She also describes how she dominates her husband, playing on a fear that was common to men. From a point of view of a man during that time period, she seemed to illustrate all of the wrongs that men found in women. Such as a weak parody of what men, then saw as feminists. The Wife of Bath constantly emphasizes the negative implications of women throughout the ages. She describes women as greedy, controlling, and dishonest.
The Wife of Bath 's prologue and tale has a very personal authenticity to it. Although Geoffrey Chaucer is the author, the wife of Bath takes agency to talk about herself and her experiences. It is almost as if the wife speaks for him. The expectations of married women, at the time The Canterberry Tales were written, were to be modest, true and obedient wives. The wife of Bath, however, admits to using her own experiences as the source of her knowledge in marriage, and not the views of society. It is the fact that she relies on her internal thoughts and experiences that allows one to see her (and Chaucer 's) personal insight on the desires of married women. Although some may say that the wife of bath is simply looking for dominion over her husbands, Chaucer characterizes the wife of bath as a bold woman, and also uses the first person point of
In the tale the wife of bath, women all around the world long and desire many needs like rights or equal convenience but mostly they want sovereignty over men. Many reasons why women need jurisdiction over men is “Freedom to do exactly as they please”, “No one to reprove our faults and lies” and “rather to have one call us good or wise”. Women need respectful and equal contingency as men, so both of them can continue on and live amicable and ecstatic lives.
Women have the ability to get what they want, when they want it. Chaucer portrays the Wife of bath as the dominant person in her marriages. She looks at men as her trinkets to be used and played with. She moves from one man to another, always looking for more. The Wife of Bath is a control freak, wanting to have sex when she desires it and with whom she desires.
Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales follows the travels of twenty-nine men and women who are on a pilgrimage from London to Canterbury and back, with the purpose of visiting the shrine of Saint Thomas a Beckett. The group consists of people from three different estates, or social classes: the aristocracy, the clergy, and the working class. Chaucer illustrates a contradiction in the way certain classes should behave versus how some of his characters actually do behave. A character analysis of the squire from the aristocracy estate, the pardoner from the clergy estate, and the miller from the worker estate illustrate these dichotomous traits in moral fiber.